Wednesday, February 27, 2019

So, here I am using some lighter gloves and the Pogie Lites in pretty cold temps.

Not long ago I did a review here on Pogie Lites. (See HERE) Now this was before we had any "real Winter" going on here. So, recently during a ride to work I thought I should do an update, because obviously, we have had some pretty cold temperatures here of late with plenty of wind to go along with that.

I think I've fine tuned the Pogie Lite set up for Winter that works for me. Notice, I said, "...for me." This may not work at all for you or anyone else, so you will have to think the following information through and filter it for your own needs.

Okay, with that said, my thoughts were that with the Pogie Lites, I may have to use a bit beefier glove underneath to provide the right of warmth for my hands. So on a pretty cold day, (single digits) with a decent amount of wind, I rode with my heavier Seal Skinz gloves. I found out pretty quickly that was too much glove. The lack of any wind getting through the Pogie Lites meant my hands easily over-heated inside those gloves.

So, I switched to using a pair of lighter Seal Skinz gloves I have. Now on their own, I might get away with riding with these in the 20's and light to no wind. Maybe. However; with Pogie Lites I almost get too warm in the single digits with these gloves on. It's really easy to get a sweat on, even with sub-zero wind chills. So, I ended up loosening up the cinched up end, (the side facing the stem) of the Pogie Lites to allow a bit of flow through in regard to air. This pretty much solved my issues with sweating out and now I can easily ride in difficult conditions, (read- sky high heart rates), and for as long as I want without getting too hot and without getting even the least bit cold.

The Pogie Lites are now an indispensable part of my Winter kit.

This has proven to be a pretty cool set up since the Seal Skinz gloves I am using, (seen above), are allowing enough dexterity that I can easily adjust other items of clothing, and get into pockets, etc, without having to "de-glove" to do things.

I wanted also to reiterate how the Pogie Lites are easy to get into and out of. This wasn't the case with my old pogies, and try pushing back any other style of pogie. You cannot do that. Nor can you operate your controls outside of other normal pogies. You can with Pogie Lites. To my mind, since they seem to work for me in as cold a temperatures as I will want to ride in, why buy anything else?

I just cannot think of a good reason to use another pogie now. I'll admit, I thought maybe deep Winter cold would preclude my use of Pogie Lites, and I was completely at ease with that thought. However; it simply was wrong thinking on my part. In fact, if it were a situation where it got below zero for the ambient temperature, I would switch to my heavier Seal Skinz gloves and still use Pogie Lites.

Now for the disclaimers: My hands are generally warm anyway. In fact, I sometimes can ride bare handed in sub-freezing temperatures if it isn't windy. (Not often, but still.....) So, I have what I would call "warm hands" generally speaking. Many folks hands are freezing at 40°F, so I get it if you think this sounds like rubbish. Just adjust this review accordingly for how it is your hands generally are.

Also, I will again reiterate that Bike Iowa sent me this pair of Pogie Lites at no charge for review. They weren't expecting this update, or did they even know about it beforehand, so this is purely just my take on these things. I genuinely like them and they work for me. Again- this may not be something that works for you.

1 comment:

I love using my pogies on really cold days since it does allow you to use lighter gloves. Keep in mind though that it's a good idea to also pack a pair of warm gloves, if you break down or have an issue requiring you to stop for a prolonged period of time those lighter gloves get cold quick.